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This beautifully engraved nautical chart illustrates the Bay of Chedabouctou, now known as Milford Haven, on the southeastern coast of Nova Scotia. Published in 1744 by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, the map details the harbor, fortifications, and surrounding settlements, including Le Bourg, Le Fort, and Village de Sauvages (Village of the Natives). The depths of the bay are carefully indicated with soundings in brasses (fathoms) to aid navigation. The coastal geography, rivers, and islands, such as Ile Madame and Ile aux Renards, are well-rendered.
In 1720 the Duke of Orleans sent the Jesuit scholar and explorer Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix to America to record events in New France and Louisiana and determine the best route to the Pacific Ocean. Charlevoix gathered geographic information from fur traders in Quebec and traveled through the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River. After he returned to France, Charlevoix published his views on North America in his Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France, which has become one of hte most important works on North America during the period prior to the French & Indian (Seven Years) War.
Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of Charlevoix's Histoire et description générale and recommended it, along with the accounts of Hennepin and Lahontan, as a "particularly useful species of reading." He referred to Charlevoix's book as he developed his own ideas of Louisiana and the Northwest.
![[St. Pierre Island] Carte De L'Isle Saint Pierre Dressee au Depost des Cartes et Plans de la Marine . . . Par Ordre de M. Le Duc de Choiseul . . . M DCCLXIII](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/80010.jpg)
